Addictive energy saving apps: The future of energy management?

Smartphone penetration is growing at a steady rate and industries know that they have to engage with their customers via mobile applications in order to stay ahead. Users of smartphones spend a lot of time on these apps and it would be a lost opportunity for businesses, including utilities, to ignore this trend.

London Hydro, is the first utility in Ontario, Canada, to take on customer energy management applications and solutions that leverage Green Button data, including Bidgely HomeBeat web portal and mobile app. After only three months of use, residential customers are already enjoying over 2% energy savings, which is more than twice the industry average for digital communications. Consumers are not only saving money on their energy bills, but they appear to be enjoying the app as it if were a gaming app. Over 33% of the HomeBeat mobile app users return to the app many times during the week, and this is increasing the utility’s customer relationship levels significantly.

In 2016, Bidgely, a Californian energy analytics company, helped a rural Australian utility, United Energy, to reduce load by 30% during peak events using the HomeBeat platform. While the platform’s results proved it could reduce peak consumption during events by a significant amount, it also reduced daily power consumption.